In this year’s second quarter, the worldwide market for smartphones grew 23.1% year over year, resulting in a record 295.3 million shipments in a single quarter. This market grew by 2.6% from the first quarter. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the market will continue to rise swiftly in the second half of 2014 to surpass 300 million units.

“A record second quarter proves that the smartphone market has plenty of opportunity and momentum,” stated, Program Director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Ryan Reith “Right now we have more than a dozen vendors that are capable of landing in the top 5 next quarter. A handful of these companies are currently operating in a single country, but no one should mistake that for complacency – they all recognize the opportunity that lies outside their home turf.”

Strong demand for affordable smartphones and mobile computing boosted results for Samsung, Apple, and other smartphone vendors. Smartphone growth is drastically affected by emerging markets. Among the most successful vendors who are supporting such markets are several Chinese OEMs such as Huawei, whose shipments have almost doubled compared to the previous year.

“As the death of the feature phone approaches more rapidly than before, it is the Chinese vendors that are ready to usher emerging market consumers into smartphones,” said Senior Research Manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Melissa Chau.

Samsung is currently the top vendor with a 2Q14 shipment volume of 74.3 million units and a market share of 25.2 percent, followed by Apple with 35.1 million units and a 11.9 percent market share. Huawei comes in third with 20.3 million units and 6.9 percent market share.